Policy Papers
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Supreme Court Update June 2016
The Supreme Court will finish its 2015-16 term at the end of this month. Yesterday, the court ruled in Puerto Rico v. Franklin California Tax-Free Trust that the federal bankruptcy code preempts a local bankruptcy law enacted by Puerto Rico to address its continuing fiscal crisis. Before it adjourns for the summer, the court is expected to issue 16 more decisions in cases ranging from the president’s immigration executive action to routine criminal law. Here are some of the more notable... Continue Reading
June 14, 2016
Sorting Out Puerto Rico's Fiscal Crisis
Last week the House passed PROMESA, a bill that imposes on Puerto Rico a financial oversight board and gives the territory the opportunity to restructure its debt. The bill’s bankruptcy provisions are structured to protect creditors’ rights while ensuring that creditors, not taxpayers, bear the cost of bad investments. The bill entrusts the financial oversight board with resolving most of Puerto Rico’s difficult issues, including bankruptcy. Some question whether this trust is... Continue Reading
June 7, 2016
Clinton's Big Step to the Left on Obamacare
Hillary Clinton is proposing a dangerous expansion of Medicare as a “public option” for health insurance, something even Democrats rejected while writing Obamacare. This will raise costs and taxes for all Americans and will drive Medicare into the red even sooner than its already bleak outlook. Giving Washington control over more Americans’ health care never improves costs or care – it just makes the programs bigger, when they need to be made better. Medicare is Already... Continue Reading
June 7, 2016
Obamacare Costs Soar, Approval Plunges
Insurance companies are requesting rate increases for next year topping 50 percent. Some plans are dropping out of the marketplaces entirely, including 13 of the 23 insurance co-ops funded by taxpayers. The law is extremely unpopular. Most Americans who are paying high deductibles say that their Obamacare plans are a bad value. As summer kicked off over Memorial Day weekend, concerns about the future of Obamacare continued to heat up. Americans got more bad news on how much the failing health... Continue Reading
June 7, 2016
SCOTUS Deals Obama Another Blow
Last week, the Supreme Court sided with private property owners and rejected President Obama’s attempts to expand Washington control over more Americans. The unanimous decision adds to a string of high court failures for Obama by reversing another regulatory power grab. The decision could spell trouble for the administration’s rule expanding the definition of “waters of the U.S.” In a unanimous decision last week, the Supreme Court ruled that landowners can challenge... Continue Reading
June 7, 2016
U.S. Hiring Slows to a Crawl
Job creation in May was its lowest in more than five years, and numbers for the previous two months were revised down. Nearly half a million Americans dropped out of the workforce in the month. Another half a million are new part-time employees who wish they could work more. The grim facts came to light just days after President Obama traveled to Indiana to brag about his skills as a job creator. Job creation under President Obama’s economy came grinding almost to a halt in May. On... Continue Reading
June 3, 2016
May 2016 Jobs Report
Unemployment Rate: 4.7 percent Unemployed Americans: 7.4 million Employment and Unemployment The Department of Labor reported an unemployment rate of 4.7 percent for May, a decline of 0.3 percentage points. Today’s decline in the unemployment rate is largely attributed to more Americans dropping out of the workforce. The jobs report shows an increase of 38,000 nonfarm jobs in May. Employment for March was revised down from 208,000 to 186,000 jobs created; and April was revised down... Continue Reading
May 24, 2016
Clinton Looks to Shut Down Coal
Hillary Clinton blames market conditions for high unemployment among coal miners. Clinton herself helped create these market conditions by supporting the Obama administration’s war on coal over the past seven years. Coal communities know that Clinton does not have clean hands when it comes to more than 40,000 coal mining jobs lost since 2008. In March, Hillary Clinton declared, “We’re going to put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business.” An unemployed... Continue Reading
May 24, 2016
Obamacare Sticker Shock for 2017
Insurance companies continue to release their planned premiums for next year, with many requesting price hikes of 20, 30, or 40 percent. Other companies are dropping out of the marketplaces entirely or raising deductibles so high that the coverage is useless. Two-thirds of Americans say they would have difficulty coming up with the money to cover a $1,000 emergency, and some silver plan deductibles have now risen above $7,000. Health insurers have submitted their requests for double-digit... Continue Reading
May 24, 2016
Obama's Over-the-top Overtime Rule
The Obama administration’s new overtime rule will benefit few workers, as employers will have to find other ways to trim costs. The rule will force colleges and universities to raise tuition, cut services, or lay off staff. Providers of services for people with disabilities may have to reduce the care they offer in order to comply with the new regulation. President Obama’s economic policies have led to wage stagnation for hardworking American families. During the Obama presidency,... Continue Reading
May 17, 2016
Court Strikes Down Obamacare Payments
Last week’s court ruling in support of the House’s lawsuit against Obamacare’s insurance subsidy program is the latest sign the law is collapsing. The Obama administration has illegally given $7 billion to insurance companies. The ruling is being appealed, but if it stands, it is another illegal action by the Obama administration to prop up a failed law. In 2014, the House of Representatives brought a lawsuit against the Obama administration challenging Obamacare’s... Continue Reading
May 17, 2016
The Obama Administration's Iran Fictions
Iran’s economy is benefitting from access to $100 billion because of sanctions relief from the Obama administration’s nuclear agreement. The White House has misled the public about the $100 billion and has called critics misinformed or liars. The total sanctions relief of the nuclear agreement gives the Iranian economy access to more than $100 billion, some of which will be used against American interests. The Iran nuclear agreement was announced in July 2015. Since then, the... Continue Reading
May 17, 2016
In Obamacare Religious Freedom Case, SCOTUS Says to Work it Out
Yesterday, the Supreme Court released a unanimous, unsigned opinion declining to decide Zubik v. Burwell, the consolidated religious freedom challenges to Obamacare’s contraceptive mandate. The court asked the parties to find an accommodation that satisfies both sides. In the meantime, religious groups not complying with the mandate cannot be fined. If the parties don’t reach an agreement, the circuit courts will likely re-decide the cases based on the briefing before the Supreme... Continue Reading
May 10, 2016
Going on Offense on Obamacare
Health care costs are the biggest financial concern for families – more than low wages, college expenses, and even losing a job. Democrats want to claim that Obamacare is working; Americans disagree. Disapproval of the law is at its highest level in two years. People will start selecting their insurance for next year – with higher premiums and fewer choices – just one week before Election Day. According to a recent Gallup poll, health care costs are the biggest financial... Continue Reading
May 10, 2016
Higher Drug Costs Linked to Obamacare
Americans are paying more for prescription drugs under Obamacare. Obamacare plans have narrow networks of doctors, narrower lists of covered drugs, and higher out-of-pocket costs for the drugs that are covered. Out-of-pocket expenses for prescription drugs in the most popular type of exchange plan are twice as high as they are in the average employer-sponsored plan. Health care costs have ballooned under Obamacare, with prescription drugs leading the way. According to a report by S&P... Continue Reading
May 10, 2016
Obama Fails to Prosecute GITMO Detainees
When President Obama took office, Guantanamo held 242 detainees. Now there are 80. During the time when 162 detainees have left Guantanamo, President Obama has begun only two military commission prosecutions. 162 detainees depart Guantanamo, 2 military prosecutions started Military commissions are supposedly an integral part of President Obama’s plan to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility. In a speech in May 2009, the president said there was a set of detainees there who were... Continue Reading
May 6, 2016
April 2016 Jobs Report
Unemployment Rate: 5.0 percent Unemployed Americans: 7.9 million Employment and Unemployment The Department of Labor reported an unemployment rate of 5.0 percent for April, unchanged from last month. It reported an increase of 160,000 nonfarm jobs in April. Today’s job growth figure fell short of analysts’ job growth prediction of 205,000. Employment for February was revised down from 245,000 to 233,000 jobs created; and March was revised down from 215,000 to 208,000. Revisions... Continue Reading
April 28, 2016
The Economy Still Struggles
Inflation-adjusted GDP grew at an annualized rate of 0.5 percent in the first quarter of 2016, the slowest growth in two years. This compares with growth of 0.6 percent in the first quarter of 2015, and growth for all of 2015 of 2.4 percent. Today the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis reported that GDP in the first quarter of 2016 grew at an awful 0.5 percent (annualized). This is the slowest growth in two years. In a troubling sign for future job growth, private domestic... Continue Reading
April 26, 2016
A Very Productive Start to 2016
In April, the Senate started the appropriations process at the earliest point in the history of the modern budget process. In addition to its basic duties, the Senate has acted on a broad list of bipartisan bills. This year, the Senate has voted on nearly 130 amendments. The Senate has started voting on appropriations bills for fiscal year 2017, the earliest start to this process since the budget rules were written in 1974. This comes on top of an already long list of accomplishments for the... Continue Reading
April 26, 2016
Labor Rules Crushing Business
The Obama administration is racing to finalize regulations affecting broad sectors of the economy, threatening job creation. In January, White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough said, “we’ll do audacious executive action over the course of the rest of year, I’m confident of that.” The administration’s revisions to several important rules – in addition to the piles of regulations already on the books – are costing billions of dollars in compliance... Continue Reading